The Dash has restored my biking enthusiasm

[Charly Banana]

For many years I rode recumbents and while they were fun to ride, the hills were always brutal.

What a chore trying to balance a bike at 3-4mph while pedaling uphill in granny gear. Later, I bought a comfort bike hoping I could stand and pedal up the hill. For some reason, that standup pedaling never worked out very well for me. Eventually, I kinda lost interest in biking. And the pounds started to add on.

Then, a recent trip to the doctor and a series of heart analysis tests shook up my world. My numbers were not good and my doctor advised me to get back riding a bike on a regular basis. A bike salesman had recommended an electric bike for my situation and that the Dash was a good choice. At first I was hesitant to spend $2600 on a bicycle, but went ahead anyway. And the joy of biking is back!

I love riding this bike so much. I just got back from another 20 mile ride and I feel great. I still get tired legs and I'm breathing hard by the time I get home, but the hills are no longer brutal. The pedal assist mode has made biking so much fun for me that I can't wait to go on my next ride. Getting the Dash is a real life saver for me.

 

[James]

Ebikes are so much fun! Could be a lifesaver too

 

[DashRiprock]

the Dash was a good choice. At first I was hesitant to spend $2600 on a bicycle, but went ahead anyway. And the joy of biking is back!

I love riding this bike so much. I just got back from another 20 mile ride and I feel great. I still get tired legs and I'm breathing hard by the time I get home, but the hills are no longer brutal. The pedal assist mode has made biking so much fun for me that I can't wait to go on my next ride. Getting the Dash is a real life saver for me.

I haven't received mine yet sincerely appreciate those of you who have related 'your' experiences. From someone whose last bike probably had a banana seat and who certainly never dreamed of owning another (let alone paying this much as well)...it's a huge confidence builder when I read these literally life-changing posts.

Quick question: Rusty has mentioned that in throttle mode you can ride it like a normal bike. Since I have no idea what normal should feel like in terms of today's bikes... would it be fair to compare the effort needed to propel the dash forward in T mode (with I'm assuming at least some mechanical drag)...to say off-the-shelf bikes in the mid to late 70's? Is this an exercise type feature encouraged in the IOM manual?

I hope that my Dash is as much of a lifesaver in my life as it obviously has been in yours (thanks!).

 

[Charly Banana]

Welcome to the world of the Dash.
You are going to love riding this bike.

I'm not quite sure what your question is but the pedaling effort can go from you doing all the work to the Dash doing all the work.
For me I select the minimal amount of Pedal Assist I need, because I want to get exercise. Normally, I select mode 1, but if a hill comes up I increase the amount of assist to 3 or 4.
I only use the Throttle when I need a temporary boost to the Pedal Assist.

 

[DashRiprock]

I'm not quite sure what your question is but the pedaling effort can go from you doing all the work to the Dash doing all the work.
For me I select the minimal amount of Pedal Assist I need, because I want to get exercise.

Put another way...is there any difference (whatsoever) pedaling in throttle mode (no assist)...than from any other standard bike out there...does the manufacturer recommend this setting to get back home when the battery dies...or how can you be in throttle mode (pedaling) without some (significant) resistance from the motor?

Thanks!

 

[Charly Banana]

Oh, I understand.
I haven't tried riding without any assist, but this is an important point you bring up.
I remember watching a Path+ (Dashes little brother) review where the drag from the motor was described as minimal.
When I go riding later on today I will give it a try.

 

[cellwhale]

Riding the dash in throttle only mode is like riding a very heavy mountain bike on aggressive knobed tires, rolling resistance wise. It is fine once its going but getting started can be an effort, without the throttle. The motor drag is very light and completely hidden by the weight of the bike when you are at speed. I should note my comparison bike is a giant ocr 3, it weighs half of what the dash does, and is running on 25mm tires at 110psi front 120psi back. My dash is having technical issues with the pedal assist so I have spent a few miles commuting to work with throttle only, and it kinda sucks, without power when it is not a very flat ride.

 

[Charly Banana]

My dash is having technical issues with the pedal assist so I have spent a few miles commuting to work with throttle only, and it kinda sucks, without power when it is not a very flat ride.

It would be very interesting to hear about what problems you are having with your pedal assist.

 

[Rusty]

Riding the dash in throttle only mode is like riding a very heavy mountain bike on aggressive knobed tires, rolling resistance wise. It is fine once its going but getting started can be an effort, without the throttle. The motor drag is very light and completely hidden by the weight of the bike when you are at speed. I should note my comparison bike is a giant ocr 3, it weighs half of what the dash does, and is running on 25mm tires at 110psi front 120psi back. My dash is having technical issues with the pedal assist so I have spent a few miles commuting to work with throttle only, and it kinda sucks, without power when it is not a very flat ride.

Hi guys- to help clarify, you could say that the Dash has 5 modes:

1. pedal assist with 4 levels,
2. throttle only, just twist it and go (up to 20mph only)
3. boost where you twist it while pedaling for a boosted assist (again up to 20 mph)
4. no electric assist with just the display functioning
5. or just turn the battery off, (switch on the battery itself) and the display goes off as well.

I have purposefully ridden the Dash with the electric assist off, and can say that it still rode as well and as easily as my old specialized stumpjumper hard tail (mountain bike) and I could still do over 20mph into a mild headwind with all assist turned off. It really pedaled well, the weight or drag was not a big factor for me! The comparison with a non electric mountain bike (when the assist is switched off) is a good one!

 

[cellwhale]

The reason I used the phrase "kinda sucks", is in the case of my bike it goes from light weight fast ebike, to heavy slow regular bike. My perception is colored by that. The pedal assist in my case becomes jerky,erratic and then cuts out. The dealer and Currie are working to find out what the problem is, and fix it. I can report that the Currie support does seem to be as good as all the reports I have seen say it is.

 

[Charly Banana]

Rusty explains the Dash operation very well.
I just got back from my ride today where I rode a few miles with no throttle in the throttle mode (zero assist). I found the bike to be easy to pedal to 18 mph on the flats and with the lower gears I easily climbed up three moderate hills with no problem. Since I've always had heavy bikes with fat tires, my perspective is different than cellwhale's. Bottom line is I feel better knowing that if my battery runs out 10 miles from home, I will be able to pedal home fairly easily. That's reassuring.
However, I did notice that if I was using the throttle as a pedal assist and then let the throttle return to zero, the bike felt very heavy until I shifted down to a lower gear.

 

[Charly Banana]

The pedal assist in my case becomes jerky,erratic and then cuts out. The dealer and Currie are working to find out what the problem is, and fix it.

I noticed yesterday that at times the motor seems to cut in and out repeatedly in the pedal assist mode. I thought at the time that maybe that was normal operation. However, on my ride today I didn't notice the motor cutting in and out as I did yesterday. Maybe I have the same problem as you, but mine is not as bad and is intermittent. It will be interesting to see what Currie finds out.
It kind of reminds me of riding a motorcycle and the throttle is near zero. Either you get to much throttle or zero throttle and the bike chain slaps from the on-off-on-off of the throttle.

 

[cellwhale]

I hope you don't have my issues, at this point the dash is 0 for 2 on my 30 mile round trip commute, and spent more time at the shop than my apartment. Mine is a perfect commute bike when working properly, and not as nervous as my road bike at speed. Right now The mechanic and Currie are, and I quote "perplexed".

 

[Charly Banana]

I certainly hope they get your Dash fixed real soon. I would be interested to hear what the problem was once they find it.
Good luck!

 

[Brian(J)]

Today at 160 total miles my Dash went down. On starting there was no assist, after some fooling around with the setting I got it back, then nothing again, so I gave it full throttle and the screen showed a large E then went back to normal except for a spanner wrench symbol in the upper right corner. One mile more and it cut out again so I turned back for home, hit or miss on the way back. Drove to work (yes it's a holiday but I own the company so.........) and on return realized that the E probably meant Error Code. I was able to reproduce the problem and the error screen and now I see it is also displaying the number 6, according to (Link Removed - No Longer Exists) chart it's the brake sensor so I took things apart and jiggled them and now the problem may be solved.
I am hoping.

The (Link Removed - No Longer Exists) made for interesting reading as well.
One of the Known Issues I've been concerned about already, the sensor wires coming out of the BB are unprotected wires and sooner or later that is going to be a problem. If you can get your eyes below the BB you'll see them coming out and what the problem is. Also concerned about the poor fit of the lower rubber boot just above the BB letting dirt in, that part of the down tube is crammed with delicate (Molex) connectors and needs to be sealed better.
The takeaway is that if you see that error screen best to also look for a number that you can refer to later.

 

[Charly Banana]

Apparently, these new model electric bikes from Currie are not without problems. Just yesterday I was reading about Path+ problems over at Endless-sphere. And Cellwhale is having problems with his Dash as well. Hopefully, Currie will straighten out some of these issues.
Those brake sensors are Hall-Effect sensors so one would think that they would be rather trouble free. Might be a poor connection with one of the wires internally.
When I saw those pictures of the BB, I was concerned as well. All it would take would be for the BB to rotate a little and those wires are toast. I wonder if the BB is keyed or just held in place with the pressure of the end caps?
Thanks for the informative post. It's great that we have this forum so we can learn from each other and keep our bikes running.

 

[Brian(J)]

Recap:
So my bike was busted, 5 hours later I tried again, same issue as post 15 above. I took the display apart to check the connections, looked at the diagnostic screen and pretty much didn't do anything, today I put in a 25 mile commute and it was trouble free and too much fun.

 

[cellwhale]

My dash is back from the second round of repairs, the first was the known bottom bracket issue. This time the new bottom bracket may have been bad or the sensors were not lined up correctly. I was told the instructions were not quite clear enough on that point. I now have a more tested should be working dash, I will test tomorrow after work before committing to another commute to work, hopefully this has it fixed for good. My dealer has been fairly awesome about the whole thing and besides the failures I have experienced with the bike it has been a pleasure working with him. If it fails again I will be trading it in on a neo cross, as the issues I have been having are becoming annoying and seem to be from the newness of the dash design. Never buy the wobbly 1.0 version, you would think I have learned that by now.

 

[DashRiprock]

Never buy the wobbly 1.0 version, you would think I have learned that by now.

The problem being that life is just too short and that the older you get...the more you realize this (I've said the same thing many times myself while wrenching away/beefing up the latest poorly engineered or engineering 'managed' toy). Quite often the problem I am finding today?...the 'respected' manufacturer simply moves on to the next model, more known issues and only greases the squeaky wheel. The time (traditionally) spent solidifying the line is now used to work on the next project looking again for the next home run feature/sales-wise. Not saying that Currie does this or surprised any more than you that there is a problem...just even more thankful to Ravi if he gets me the wobbly 1.0 version for $900 less today.
Thanks again to you guys for relating these issues and telling me where the list up here is.

 

[DashRiprock]

On assist level "Zero"...can somebody please tell me what the experience is like in terms of pedaling effort/drag; how this compares to a regular pedal bike and if one would feel like they were getting 'too' much exercise in this mode (I'm assuming that this is the default mode should the battery die).